


Strokes of colours

by yingtaoxin



Series: Coloured soulmate tattoos [1]
Category: One Piece
Genre: ASL Brothers, Angst, Fluff, Healing, Luffy Being Luffy, Mental Health Issues, Multi, Tired Trafalgar D. Water Law, ace is dense, doflamingo is abusive, i'm really sorry i ended up torturing law, marco is overworked, sabo is the responsible one
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-24
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:21:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24357250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yingtaoxin/pseuds/yingtaoxin
Summary: Soulmates, a phenomenon that was common enough in the world now. Soulmate marks come in the form of tattoos and they are initially just in black lines. With each interaction you have with your soulmate, the tattoo becomes more colourful. Each mark is unique to their owner and represents their soulmate. They only start to appear after you hit puberty.Ace just about had it when he saw how good Sabo’s soulmate mark looked compared to his. Sabo had a small cute little koala wearing a steampunk hat on his right bicep and what did Ace get? Some kind of weird looking chicken being barbecued, covering his right hip-thigh area.  They were 14 and their soulmate marks had just fully developed. Luffy was younger, meaning he still did not have his mark yet, and Ace sure as hell was hoping it would be as terrible as his.
Relationships: Eustass Kid/Killer, Franky/Nico Robin, Fushichou Marco | Phoenix Marco/Portgas D. Ace, Izou/Thatch (One Piece), Koala/Sabo (One Piece), Monkey D. Luffy/Trafalgar D. Water Law, Nami/Nefertari Vivi, Roronoa Zoro/Vinsmoke Sanji
Series: Coloured soulmate tattoos [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1791784
Comments: 22
Kudos: 211





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I just wanted to write a soulmates au honestly. Ok chapter 1 isn't really chapter 1 its more of a prologue so I can kind of set the story? I'm sorry haha chapter 2 will be the real start where the characters start interacting with each other. I am planning for this to be Marco/Ace and Law/Luffy based but if it goes well I'll start writing more on the other ships I promise.

Soulmates, a phenomenon that was common enough in the world now. Soulmate marks come in the form of tattoos and they are initially just in black lines. With each interaction you have with your soulmate, the tattoo becomes more colourful. Each mark is unique to their owner and represents their soulmate. They only start to appear after you hit puberty.

Ace just about had it when he saw how good Sabo’s soulmate mark looked compared to his. Sabo had a small cute little koala wearing a steampunk hat on his right bicep and what did Ace get? Some kind of weird looking chicken being barbecued, covering his right hip-thigh area. They were 14 and their soulmate marks had just fully developed. Luffy was younger, meaning he still did not have his mark yet, and Ace sure as hell was hoping it would be as terrible as his.

“Still no luck with that soulmate of yours eh Marco?” Thatch questioned the blonde man who was currently hunched over a huge stack of research papers, furiously typing data into his computer. Heaving a huge sigh, the blonde looked up from his work to glare at Thatch for asking such a silly question. He sure as hell had not met his soulmate and he doubted he ever would honestly he was already 25, with not even a speck of colour developing on the spade tattoo on his left wrist. Most people had at least met their soulmate before 20 and Thatch, his brother and current housemate was already dating his soulmate. 

Thatch met Izo at their university a few years ago when they were 20. Even with conflicting personalities, due to them being the same age and having quite a few classes together, they eventually started to get along though it was a lot of pushing from Thatch’s side. However, they only realised they were soulmates 3 years back, after being roommates for that year in the Whitebeard University dorms. It started when Thatch was rushing to change into his work clothes and ended up stripping in front of Izo, which normally did not happen as they had an unspoken rule to only change in the bathroom for privacy purposes. Izo noticed Thatch’s soulmate mark which was a two guns crossed like an X, overlapping a pair of pink handheld japanese fans with cherry blossoms designs right below his neck, in between his shoulder blades. This led Izo to question Thatch about when his soulmate mark started to show colours, which happened to be the exact year they met. Izo then revealed his own soulmate mark situated at the end of his tailbone, depicting a pair of kitchen knives crossed like an X similar to Thatches, but with a yellow scarf tied around the knives. It was only then did they realise they were soulmates. 

“ You know I don’t really have much time to care about soulmate stuff right? The University is always asking me to go back as a guest speaker and the hospital I’m working at is always short on hands.” Marco quirked a brow at Thatch. It was true that Marco was a workaholic and he would probably get married to his work instead of actually finding his soulmate. Well Marco still liked to think of himself as a romantic somewhat he did date a few people before and while it was nice spending time with someone else and showering them with small gifts and sharing cafe dates, he just did not feel anything more than simple affection for his past partners. Maybe it would be different for his soulmate? Though he agreed he was getting a bit too old to actively be searching for his soulmate,he did think of how it would be nice to have someone to come home and snuggle with after a long day at work.

Fast forward 4 years, Ace hopped into Sabo’s car after trudging his way back from his interview to get into Whitebeard University which was the only University to have his interested course of study, Nutrition and Exercise science. He really wondered how the Whitebeard University had so many different types of courses, from Drama to Pharmaceutical Sciences it really was a wonder how they managed to fund the University when it had such a wide variety of courses and students. “So how was the interview?” Sabo questioned once he saw Ace hoping into the car. “Good I guess, the lecturers were really grinning at me after I showed them my old school records. Didn’t seem to mind even though I told them I had Narcolepsy. Oh my nutrition lecturer seems cool though his hairstyle was kinda dumb. His name was Thatch I think?...” And another one of his Narcolepsy attacks hit again, at least he made it to the car this time. 

“ Marco, a new intern is coming in today, show him around will you?” 

“Hi I’m Marco, here to show you around the hospital, I have been informed your will be interning here starting today.” Marco stared down the younger man, noticing he had pretty bad eyebags and quite a few tattoos on his arms. Wait did the tattoos on his fingers spell death? “ Trafalgar D Water Law, you can call me Law, Dr Marco.” The younger black haired man sighed, knowing he was about to be questioned about his tattoos again. “ Right, just follow me, I’ll show you around and let you familiarise yourself with the surroundings. We will be working quite closely from now on, you can ask me any questions you have.” Marco decided to drop the topic on Law’s tattoos, he didn’t have all day after all. 

And another day of overtime. Rubbing his eyes, Marco adjusted his glasses finishing off the last few medical reports he had to turn in for the day. He still had to prepare materials for his lecture at the University the following day. Yawning, he decided that he should get a cup of coffee and a bento on his way home since he did miss dinner again.


	2. The Sleep Attack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter to make Ace and Marco meet.  
> Thatch is Ace's lecturer, Ace has a sleep attack in the first class.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My apologies for it being so short though I haven't updated in so long, man school has been hectic, I'll try to update as often as I can :")   
> Hopefully I can get the third chapter up by next week.

7.30am, Ace groggily snoozed his alarm for the 3rd time, wiping the drool off his face. “Ace you better get your ass up and wash up or you’re running to school” Sabo called from the kitchen. That made Ace actually start to roll out of bed since Whitebeard University was a 30 minute sprint from their house if he didn’t carpool with Sabo. Due to his narcolepsy, Ace was not allowed to get a driving license, well not that he was that keen on getting a driving license anyways, he did kind of have a phobia of driving. After washing up and splashing some water on his face to wake himself up, he pulled on an orange sweater with ASCE printed on the left sleeve, slipped on his favourite pair of black shorts and completed the look with his favourite belt, the one with the letter A embroidered into the buckle. Walking to the kitchen, he snatched the toast on the counter top that Sabo has left for him, munching on it and looking at Luffy sleepily eating his huge breakfast. 

“Ace!” Luffy finally noticed Ace after he finished gobbling down the last of his breakfast and lunged at Ace, clinging happily to his neck. Ace wondered how Luffy could still appear to be so adorable with peanut butter spread all over his face. "Yes Luffy I missed you too now go wipe your mouth we need to leave soon before Sabo kicks our asses for making him late". Sabo was the responsible one and he had to drop off his brothers at their respective schools before leaving for his intern at Dragon's place. 

It was the first day of University for Ace and the freckled boy was feeling pretty nervous since he would be in a new environment. He yanked on his favourite orange cowboy hat to hide his messy bed hair, making way to the car with his brothers.   
“Good luck Ace! “ Sabo called after Ace before driving off. Now Ace was alone with his thoughts, he still felt kind of amazed that the University accepted his application so easily. He still did not know how to feel about the new classmates though, he never really fit in with his previous classmates. They could never really accept the fact he had narcolepsy, with him falling asleep at the most random timings he even had a sleep attack in the midst of rock climbing and it scared the shit out of everyone since he suddenly fell off. 

Lost in thought, Ace absentmindedly made his way to class, with his first class being held in the school’s kitchen. When he was about to enter the kitchen, he accidentally bumped heads with a blonde in the doorway, who was also coincidentally heading in. ‘Ouch! Watch it cowboy!” the blonde exclaimed, rubbing his head. The blonde had chin length bangs swept to the right side of his face, covering his right eye and also spotted unique curly eyebrows. Now Ace felt offended that the blonde was blaming him since he didn’t bump into him on purpose. “Hey, you weren;t looking as well and I’m not a cowboy just because I like this hat ok squiggly eyebrows”. Ace retorted. 

“ Woah no fighting first thing in the morning boys,it’s your first day in University we don’t want bad first impressions and rivalry” Thatch walked past them into the kitchen. Giving the blonde a quick stare, Ace followed Thatch into the kitchen and sat down at the counter with his name displayed. The blonde followed them in shortly, taking his seat as well, his nameplate read Sanji. 

“Welcome to Whitebeard University! I’m Thatch and I will be in charge of your nutrition classes. This class is a joint module for those in the culinary class and nutrition and exercise sciences class. I’m totally chill with you calling me Thatch, no need for formalities here. Today will be a short introduction to the various nutritious foods and their benefits, we will also be preparing a simple dish that is nutritionally balanced. You can have what you prepared for lunch. Now let’s start some self-introductions and move on to the lesson shall we?”

After a round of introductions, the class started off by learning about the various foods that can help boost memory. Shortly after, they were tasked with collecting ingredients to make a simple meal. 

And that was when it happened. Ace felt his vision start to blur while he was collecting the ingredients namely the bottles of spices and sauces. The next thing he knew he was on a bed somewhere and he felt pain? Ah of course he cut himself when he dropped the glass bottles.

The sound of glass shattering and a loud thump shocked the whole class. Well Thatch sure as hell was not ready for this, he knew Ace’s narcolepsy attacks were bad but he didn’t think it would be bad to the point he just plonked on the ground. Ok maybe he should have thought more about it and actually told the class this might happen since the class was currently screaming and running around like headless chicken.

“Uhhh Thatch, I think Ace is bleeding” Sanji had a distressed look after walking over to check on Ace. “Oh shit ok wait let me see his injuries.” Thatch started panicking now since he was not prepared to deal with a bloody Ace first thing in the new semester.

Ace had dropped the glass bottles on the floor and they were in a shattered mess around him, some glass shards were lodged into his arms, he was lucky that he managed to somehow move his arms upwards before falling so his head was unharmed from the broken glass shards.His arms however, was another story, he was bleeding quite a bit from his palms and forearms that had the most contact with the broken glass shards.

“Marco? U done with your lecture? Can you come over one of my kid’s narcolepsy acted up and holy shit he’s bleeding. The rest of the class is panicking and screaming.Help Marco please” Thatch rang Marco, feeling slightly faint himself at the sight of the amount of weird blood and sauce/spice mix surrounding Ace, there seemed to be a cut near the side of his lower back revealed by the sweater that rolled up when he fell.

“Wait, you have a kid with narcolepsy this year? Why didn’t you tell me earlier? He should have a buddy to look after him, yoi” Marco sighed knowing how bad the narcolepsy symptoms could be. The kid most likely ended up feeling sleepy half-way and practically blacked out from how panicked Thatch’s tone was. Oh well at least he had just finished his lecture and was on break for the next 2 hours so it couldn’t hurt to help the poor kid. 

Marco started walking over to the kitchen block of the university and to Thatch’s classroom on the 2nd level where he was supposed to be teaching. Well the first thing he saw when he was near the entrance of the class was really just kids looking pretty freaked out so he knew it was the correct class. 

“Seriously Thatch, why didn’t you tell me earlier that the kid has narcolepsy,” he sighed making his way into the classroom. “Where’s the kid? Did you just leave him on the floor? And you left him on the floor.” Marco practically face-palmed after seeing the motionless body on the floor which just looked like a crime scene after someone died. It did not help that the kid has his own blood mixed with chilli sauce pooled around his forearms.

“Help me clean this up will you? I’ll carry him to the infirmary and treat him with the bandages and ointments there.” Well its been a while since the last time Marco had carried someone but no one else could really help him carry the boy over so he decided to just do it himself so Thatch could go back to conducting his class. Marco kneeled down and scooped the boy up in his arms, raising one knee at a time he stood up and started walking to the infirmity carrying the boy in his arms bridal style.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the support!  
> I'm sorry its so short aaa I haven't had time to write properly.  
> I hope you enjoyed the short chapter and the next will have a lot more Marco and Ace moments. :)  
> I will most likely start a series based on this au mainly for the side pairings and shitpost short stories in general.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, thank you for reading! This is my first time writing a fanfic and I promise I'll write future chapters in a better way. I honestly have no idea where I want to go with this. I don't know if anyone will follow this haha I really just wanted to smack down my ideas on watercolour tattoo soulmate marks.


End file.
